Beach List

Our beach trip went off without a hitch. Well except for Steven's brother's brand new car getting hit in the in the parking garage and the jackasses didn't even leave a note. Klassy.

Also Klassy were the two human whales we witnessed getting into a cat fight on the beach. It was more like a slow moving sumo match. Lady #1 kept getting splashed by Lady #2's kids. Lady #1 said something. Lady #2 decided to open up a can on her. I will say that after it was broken up each lady went back to their respective seats like it was just another day at the beach.

Oh how I love watching these two play together. Zachary and Sophie are 11 months apart. They have always played so well together. Although they do yell, hit, tattle, and as seen here, point fingers at one another!

Don't bother going to the aquarium on the Grand Strand. When you have the idea, guarantee that 29383 people have the same idea.

My water sprite really wasn't a fan of the beach. By day 2 she wanted the pool and only the pool.

Not quite sure what this is all about. I think it's a four year old possibly trying to look hot and wink. Definitely needs to work on the wink!

Or this.

I might as well jump.

JUMP!

Might as well jump!

Go ahead, jump, Jump!

Go ahead, Jump.

No air Madie and Sammi. Still to little to really get off the ground. But next year I'm sure they'll be

Beach quote of the week.

Soph- "Aunt Lawawa, can you pick up my stuffed fish?"

Aunt Laura- "What's the magic word?"

Soph- "ABRACADABRA!"

Stella Bella did great while we were gone! YAY! But she's such a diva. I know that part of her finickiness and pickiness has to do with the fact that she doesn't feel 100% most of the time. But sheesh. I have no doubts that in a former life she was a southern belle growing up on a plantation. Her death bed scene would include a canopy bed, propped up on 20 pillows, silk jammies, and slaves fanning her with palm leaves during her final hours.

We came back from the beach with a case of swimmers ear turned raging ear infection. It's even painful pulling a shirt over my girl's head. So she's on an antibiotic AND ear drops. The ear drops are fun times putting in. So we wait for her to fall asleep and then creep into her room. She's probably going to have nightmares of aliens coming into her room and probing and prodding her with titanium instruments.

So until next year!

4th of July Overload

I loved being home for the 4th of July. Loved. It. Normally we are at the beach over the 4th and although it's great being at the beach I realized this year just how awesome the 4th of July can be. And it was a jammed packed weekend. Which are always the best kinds of weekends to have! So here is 4th of July picture over load!

We started out Saturday morning meeting my grandma, a few cousins, and aunt and uncle bright and early for a parade in their little town. Same parade that I marched in when I was little. Soph will tell you that the best thing about this parade is the entire bag full of candy you can collect.

Here's me and my girl pre-parade.

One of the many many trips to the middle of the road to pick up extra candy. They let ANYONE be in this parade. You basically just show up with a car, a bike, a tractor or even a horse and they'll let you in. She's already said that next year she can ride in papaw Rocky's tractor and throw candy. We'll see.

I think every parent in America could nab a picture of their kid like this when the fire trucks roll through!

Saturday evening we headed over to another little town for fireworks. We had a few options for fireworks but decided that smaller and less hectic seemed like the route to go since our day had already been busy. Hopefully, we'll be able to do this every year. It was fun to kiddie tailgate before the fireworks started.

At the fireworks we met up with the Taylors. And here is Soph, Ben, and Owen.

And the Markins' family!

On Sunday Katie invited us all to a fabulous cookout and afternoon of swimming. Last year we did the same thing. And we can all remember last year saying that one day we'll be able just to set along the edge of the pool and watch our kids swim. This year, for at least half of us that little wish came true!

This crew can swim! Although they look like drowning cats doing it!

Pool "bums"

Jackson is never far from his blackberry.

Charles' swim proteges. Oh how I wish I had a video of Sophie and Emma coming up for a "breath." Funniest thing evah! I can't even explain it. Just one of those things you'd have to see for yourself.

She

1. She is is trouble right now. All of her books are in a laundry basket and locked in my closet for 2 days. The reason for this sentence? Trying to punch her dad's lights out when he told her it was time to come inside and then refusing to stand in the corner. We did leave her Bible on her bookshelf.

2. She cried herself to sleep tonight because of the book ban.

3. She had her last swimming lesson today. On day 2 she cried all the way there. On the last, she cried all the way home.

4. She is more thoughtful and giving at four then I have ever been in my entire life. Swim guy got a silly band, a thank-you card with a monkey on it, a picture drawn in it, a gift certificate, AND his payment. And I couldn't tell her no.

5. Yesterday she offered her daddy the money in her piggy bank to buy a jeep because she knows that he wants one.

6. She could eat watermelon every single day.

7. There is something about her that can talk anyone into anything. I truly believe she could sell ice to an eskimo.

8. She is missing her GiGi like crazy. She is at the beach for 2 weeks and then we'll be gone for a week. That's 3 whole weeks without her G. I think that's the longest she has ever gone without seeing her.

9. She never asks for new toys. She actually doesn't even have that many material possessions.

10. She desperately wants to fly in an airplane.

11. She composes her own songs. Her current favorite is a song she made up about Mexico and a song about a robot cat.

12. She crawls into our bed at least 2 nights a week. I would never admit it to her, but I secretly love it.

13. She has inherited my dad's side of the family's party gene. Girlfriend can stay up and go strong until late. And I mean late. Then crash and be right back at it the next day for round 2. We're in trouble.

14. This morning she told me that I was beautiful and that I had on a beautiful necklace, a beautiful dress, and a beautiful hair clip.

15. She's the one that's beautiful.

Ten On Tuesday

1. In less than 2 weeks we'll be heading to the Redneck Riviera for our annual family beach trip. Sophie is PUMPED and asks every day if it's time to load up and go. I'm excited to get away but I'm down about not being able to bake in the sun for hours on end. Sitting in a chair where the surf breaks reading a book is one of life's greatest pleasures. I also worry about leaving Stella. She's not doing well.

2. The 4th of July is coming up this weekend. I am glad that our annual beach trip got pushed back 2 weeks so that we are actually here on the 4th. I always loved watching fireworks as a kidd-o. Now that Sophie is getting older it's easier to do things like that. And to me, no 4th of July is complete without a parade. We usually truck down to the teeny tiny little town my dad and grandma lives and line the streets and wait for the ear piecing sound of fire engines. Last year I think they parade every single emergency vehicle in the whole county. Including jet skis being towed down the road. And then the funeral home hands out ice cream. Is that not weird?!

3. I have a new love and his name is Jack Johnson. And it's my hubby's fault that I have this new love as he listens to him all.the.time. I tried not to give in to his music. But the music and the looks sucked me right in. Soph goes around singing his songs too. Currently, her favorite is Angel.

4. I learned this past weekend that 32 year old women have no business playing beer pong. Although I am quite good at it, it always wins. And I paid an entire Sunday for sinking those little ping pong balls into cups. Thought.I.Would.Die.

5. True Blood. Why it took me so long to get into this show I'll never know. Could be because we don't have HBO. I've read all of the books but I'm only up to episode 3. Stinks because I have to get them from Netflix and I can't watch them instantly.

6. I have officially lost 28 pounds! Took me 4 freaking years but I finally weigh less than my pre-pregnancy weight. And I'm almost to my pre-wedding weight. I figure that if I can't be tan, I'll be skinny. And to borrow from one of my online friends, I'm on a MILF Mission. Is that rude and crude? Sorry but that's the look I'm shooting for. I feel it's a noble look to go for.

7. Sophie wants to try karate again. She tried last summer but she was still too young. It just seems expensive! And I don't know if I want her to be able to break boards. That really puts the odds in her favor when she becomes a teenager and our fights begin.

8. Our new patio is fini! YAY! We haven't really had time to break it in though. We had a few neighbors over a few weeks ago but we didn't get to chill back there very long because of course when you want kids to be out back, they want to be out front. And it has been HOT. Covered patio or not, no one wants to set outside when it's 90 degrees at 8 o'clock. I'll post pictures soon. We just sealed it so now we have to get the furniture back on.

9. I've got to see Eclipse this week even if it means going solo. Would that be too pathetic? Some friends are going tonight at midnight but I'm positive that I would be in worse shape staying up until 3 am watching a movie then going for another round of beer pong!

10. And I'll leave you one from Soph's stint as a flower girl a few weeks ago. I just love it.

4 Years and 3 Months

Dear Little Bit,

I've missed your monthly birthday again. Back on June 16th I really couldn't think of what I wanted to put down. We are now knocking on July's door and it turns out that there is something I would like to write down for prosperity's sake.

You go to school/daycare every day. Back when you were 11 weeks old and it was time for me to go back to work there was never really an instant that I waiver with that decision. Although I loved those 11 weeks that I spent with you, I missed my job, my friends at work, and just simply being out of the house. And I knew that you would fare better by going to day care than you would with me day in and day out. Oh I'm sure you would be versed in every episode of Days of Our Lives and Food Network.

You turned one and we moved day cares. The new one tried to kill you with a peanut butter sandwich. So we switched again and you have been at the same place since you were 14 months old. You turned 2, then 3, then 4. And never did I question the path you were on.

Recently, however, something changed. All around me the signs of summer started rolling in. Public school was out. It was 95 degrees in the beginning of June. I started feeling like a train slowly moving down a track that was gaining speed. And it was a Tuesday evening. Tons of kids were outside playing, you included. You were running as fast as your little feet could carry you. Your hands and feet were filthy dirty. The sun began to set. But I didn't have the heart to tell you to come inside and get a bath and get ready for bed. Why should you have to? Everyone else was outside having fun. But not everyone else has to get up at 6:45 am and go to work with their mom and dad.

So we let you stay up late. And we dealt with your grouchiness the next morning as we went through our morning routine. All day long I had a nagging feeling. Summer kept coming on in full force. Summer activities began starting up. And that nagging feeling grew. And it hit me in the face that although it's not 1950 anymore sometimes the world still operates that way. Sometimes it is assumed that if school is out for summer then parents must get a summer break as well. All kids from 1 to 18 frolic around without a care in the world. Well this isn't Neverland. It's reality. And the reality for you is that while some kids are sleeping til 9 or 10 o'clock you're up and ready for the another day of the same old same old.

I so wanted to sign you up for swimming lesson at a certain pool. A few pools actually. But place after place only offered them during the day. And for some reason, which I'm haven't quite figured out why, this little issue completely sent me over the edge. It burned and gnawed at me from the inside out. And for one of the first times I started having regrets. I regretted taking my transcripts back from the education department and marching them back to the political science department at WVU and then staying on to go to law school. I regretted not marrying a millionaire. HA! Truthfully, I started having this feeling of unfairness and bitterness. All because of swimming? I think maybe the swimming was just the icing on the cake. Sort of sent me over the edge. Running through my head nonstop, was this feeling that you would never truly know what "summer" felt like. You would never have days upon days of nothing to do but wonder what you might do tomorrow. I was angry that because I work my fucking kid wasn't going to lean how to swim. And the minute that thought ran though my head, my head answered back and said "on the bright side, you work so you really your kid won't be going to the pool that much anyway. " Not the answer I was looking for.

I'm not sure how the rest of your childhood summers will start and end. If years from now you look back full of resentment I want you to know that this whole issue did cross my mind. I wasn't ignorant to your plight. And I'm sure this is just one of the many many things that we will do that will totally screw with your head. Hey we try our best. If you are one day sitting in jail and the prosecutor asks you "why you did it?" you can tell him that your childhood was robbed because you didn't get an official summer so now you are full of hate and rage. But what I hope is that you know just how much we love you. We don't love you any less than moms or dads that stay home. Actually, I probably love you more because I do work. Because if I didn't I'd probably been in a loony bin somewhere. And although you might not get to sleep in when you are 5 or 6 or 7, there is more to this world then June, July, and August.

As for swimming. That worked itself out too. And you can swim better than some pansy ass little 6 year olds who spend 8 hours a day pool side. It started out rough. Of all the teenagers and college students on the planet working at pools in the summer you got the one with the history of scaring the crap out of little kids. Those first 2 days you cried your eyes out. You begged me not to take you. You tried escaping from the pool. You yelled at him. And he yelled at you and told you that you were finished with the baby pool and water wings which broke your heart. You would lie and say you had to pee or that your tummy hurt. He didn't baby you. And he wasn't going to let you win. And on day 3 you came out of the pool smiling. And on day 4 you skipped your way to the diving board. And you gave that guy, who not a week before you said was mean jerk, one of your precious silly bandz. A shark. Because he didn't have one and he needed one because he worked in the water. And you wanted to thank him. Thank him for teaching you how to swim in the deep end so you would no longer be left behind. And when you dug in my bag to find it and handed it to him, in that moment you made my heart melt and shit maybe even his. It's probably not every 22 year old who gets gifted a .20 cent plastic bracelet just because he didn't give up on you.

Love Mama

Then And Now

Then...

And now...

It has become a yearly tradition for us to load up and head to Snowshoe for Memorial Day weekend. It sort of kicks off summer. Once again we got lucky with great weather. The only bummer was the fact that the pool was closed. On Saturday evening, we decided to head to the same restaurant as we did last year. And believe it or not but the same little boy from last year was there with his parents! My camera was screaming for pictures!

I tried everything I could to recreate a few pictures from last year but the kids were too busy running. My pictures last year were 30493 times better last year. One would think that I would have improved over a year! I even tried to have them stand beside one another.

This was right before she said to him, "so do you like my dress?"

And then he looked at her like she had three heads! HA! But he did say "yes" when his momma asked him if he heard the question.

I finally connected all of the dots and figured out that this little boy is a summer neighbor of one of the judges I work for. For most of the year he lives in New York City. But come summer he heads down to Pocahontas County with his parents where his dad runs a summer camp.

Small world.

Strawberry Shortcake

If I lived in an alternate, parallel, sideways, universe. A universe without me one day learning that I was in fact DEAD and living in this made-up alternate, parallel, sideways universe, I would be farmer. In Tuscany. In an old farmhouse. Chickens would be laying eggs. I would grow asparagus. I would wear a floppy hat and bright Wellies and look cool and Jcrew like wearing these items while picking tomatoes. And we would feast Italian style and despite the constant eating I would remain skinny.

But alas, there's no parallel universe pour moi. So to get my occasional home grown fix, I drag my kid out strawberry picking. She loved it. For awhile. Then she claimed that strawberry picking was making her a sweaty mess so we really should get going.

It boggles my mind that I live in a state stretches of nothingness but land that you could throw some fruits and veggies on and there are but a few "pick your own" and farmers markets. I swear, if you build it, WE WILL COME. That teeny tiny strawberry patch was full of people. I did hear of a blueberry patch in Poca that should be ready for picking in July.

We'll be there.

With our basket.